Saturday, February 13, 2010
Gay plays go wide
Variety: "Gay characters in legit works have gone through several distinct phases. After centuries of invisibility, they moved centerstage in then-shocking works like 'Tea and Sympathy' and 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.' Then there were out-and-proud pieces like 'Torch Song Trilogy' and 'Angels in America' (subtitled 'A Gay Fantasia on National Themes'), in which characters grappled with their sexual identity but often came to positive conclusions.'Next Fall,' which opens March 11 at the Helen Hayes Theater, represents a case study of a major shift."
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11 comments:
I think as topics become relevant and more open as opposed to taboo they become an audience interest. Playwrights see this and latch on writing stories with, as the article suggest gay themes. This is great because not only does it allow proper education in an artistic setting but it gives a message of hope to those in the gay community that people are starting to truly accept. Right now its gay people, and next its- immigration? I don't know but this has been a trend in theater and art forever. Religion and the gods in Aristotle's time. The black community experienced it in the 60s!
It has all happened before and now it is happening for the gay community. Whats next? Who knows.
It is great to see that we have made it to a more open environment for the gay community. With homosexuality now more widely recognize, it has become a central part of many plays. But as says Richard Willis, a lead producer of "Next Fall" says, "It's not a gay love story. It's a love story. And by the way, they're gay." This is a great mentality. We don't have to focus on the homosexuality, we just have to recognize that it is there. This is great progress and hopefully it will continue to lead the way. As Bryce has mentioned, this sort of shift has happened before and it will be interesting to see what group Broadway recognizes next.
I am very happy to hear about progression such as this. In a traditional play, it is an assumed fact that the love story would be based around heterosexuality. In our progressive society, there shouldn't have to be any reason why an equally powerful story can't be composed with a homosexual love story. In fact, it might even open the door to a story that can bring something new to the stage, never possible with the traditional model. If theater is suppose to push the limits, and do new things, then this is a good step in the right direction.
I really like that they're finally starting to move away from "gay romances" and finally accepting it as just a plain old romance. It doesn't matter whether the leads are a man and a woman, 2 women, or 2 men. The story applies to everyone. It's so nice to see that we're finally accepting this. It's a rather large step forward for our country's acceptance. I wish the article wasn't CONSTANTLY talking about "gay romances" after it makes the point that these are just regular romances.
I think finally it becomes to move out! I am glad about their trying.
Producer's saying "It's not a gay love story. It's a love story. And by the way, they're gay." is very impressive for me. We don't need unfairly prejudiced view anymore.
If we see from the aspect of the theatrical performing arts, where certain sexual expressions are possible on stage, such as all casts revealing their naked body, I think there should have been nothing to be handled differently just because of "gay" plays.
Gay is merely one of forms of love in the human society, which has been in real life. Therefore the plays of the theme deserve to be written and produced. And then we will see the result in the same way as other regular shows. If the production quality (here means story, music, etc.) is good, people will love.
I'm very happy to hear that theater is shifting from plays that center on gay issues to plays that center on issues that gay characters face. It's a very positive step towards making homosexual characters' key trait their homosexuality. Conflict is conflict, a love story is a love story, it shouldn't matter whether or not the central characters are gay or straight. Hopefully in a few years most audiences will inherently feel that a story can be targeted at them regardless of the sexuality of the characters.
It's great that plays with themes that include homosexuality are starting to become more mainstream. I don't think that this theme is going to make it harder for these plays to do well, I think it will make them do better! There is great support of the gay community in New York right now, and I think that many of these people are going to want to see these shows. I totally agree with Bryce that the more taboo a topic is, the more likely people are going to want to witness media about that topic. People like to know that they were a part of a movement.
There is no doubt that the view of homosexuality has become much more relaxed in the last few decades, and I'm not surprised to see that reflected in recent works. I like the point the article made in discussing that plays have progressed from having a gay character and having most of the play's conflict centering around that fact, to having a play, in which the character just happens to be gay. This is a good reflection on how the idea of homosexuality should be perceived as a secondary characteristic, and not an all-encompassing one.
As the arts begin to make a grater statement to topics like this, the people who like art will listen first. This may seem obvious but, typically it is the people at the top who appreciate art more. Those people are the ones who may have a greater effect on the changes of society. If they keep at it, we may see some more change from those on top.
While I appreciate "gay issues" being brought to the stage, it is a bit obnoxious that a play needs to be a "gay" play in order to cover these issues. What I believe would actually be a step in the right direction would be plays in which gay people are dealing with life issues. Because either If you take a play and make it about the fact that the characters are gay, this is almost as bad as ignoring the issue completely. And I agree with Bryce that this is just the issue that is coming into light now. This issue could be about religion, race, or any other thing that can be used to divide us.
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